please please please tell me what is killing my chickens!

[agnes_day]

i just had a second chicken die from whatever killed my rooster.
they seem to just want to be alone..and then hours before they die, they have this horrible passing gas odor about them along with diarrhea, and thats it!
any ideas on what it is?? i am starting to think i am just a lousy chicken owner

ive tried antibiotics, vet rx, this neon yellow stuff that the feed store guy said would help..and its not working

 

[nnbreeder]

This indeed sounds like Coryza. It would be best for a vet to confirm however. Place the dead bird in a plastic bag and refigerate until you can get it someplace for a necropsey. Are you close to Stillwater or OKC? The Ag dept. is on Lincoln/ MLK just north of the capital building. You can call (405) 521-3864 and ask to talk to one of the state's vets, they should be able to help you out.

 

[ruth]

How old are they? Is there any sign of blood in the diarreah? Could be Cocci in which case you need to add Sulmet to their drinking water. I just went through a bout with it and it quickly took out about a dozen 5 week old chicks. Fine one day, huddled under heat lamp acting lethargic the next, then another one dying every few minutes. Awful smell too. When I brought the sickest ones inside to hospital brooder that's when I noticed the bloody poop but only one or two passed blood - the rest just awful smelling diarreah. Added Sulmet to their water and they recovered immediately. Those that died also had the worse smelling bodies.

Cocci is normally an older chick (older than 3 weeks) to young adult disease. The very young and the more mature don't normally get it but that's not saying they NEVER get it. I treated my whole flock after the outbreak.

 

[ruth]

Meant to add that Coryza is more like head cold/respiratory symptoms - discharge and mucus from eyes, nose - with a smell.

 

[agnes_day]

no blood at all!
my rooster...he was all coughing and foaming at the mouth when he died..he went into convulsions right at the end..
this one, she just started hiding from everyone, and being really tame and letting me hold her a lot..fluffing her feathers up as much as possible..then i noticed this morning that she had really bad diarrhea and this god awful stench..the same kind my rooster had

my others seem ok..but i dont know what to do!

 

[ruth]

Cocci doesn't cause coughing and foaming at mouth but Coryza could. She could have something different. There doesn't have to be blood in diarreah either.

How old is she and have they been on medicated chick starter? Mine weren't - lesson learned.

 

[agnes_day]

the rooster was around 8 months old and she was almost 5 months old and they are on medicated chick feed still.
i just dont know what i am doing wrong..i also had one just die for no reason at all last week..she was fine and the next morning she was dead! i clean their coop regularly, they get decent food, water,and treats..i just dont know. now i am down to 2 chickens and a duck!

 

[Guinea Goonie]

I would suspect a toxinl, not a disease is killing your birds.
Get rid of your feed, get rid of the waterer and search your property for ANYTHING that may be doing this.

It actuall sounds like rat poisen !!

 

[agnes_day]

thats what my husband thinks...
we are going to bag up everything, scrub out the coop and see if that helps..the weirdest thing is the gassy smell coming from them..its just so gross and it smells almost like they arent digesting their food..or something!